Hey Everybody, Rick here.  I am not usually the type to get political.  In fact, there are two things you will almost never hear me discuss with people.  Those two things are religion and politics.  Both are such sensitive subjects to people that I prefer to leave those two topics alone.  But when the idea of our free speech comes into question and what the internet means to us as not only a community but also as a way of life for some, I feel it necessary to speak up. 

Here's the deal.  There are two bills that are about to be under review by the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives.  They are SOPA and PIPA respectively.  As described by Wilkipedia....

SOPA and PIPA represent two bills in the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate respectively. SOPA is short for the "Stop Online Piracy Act," and PIPA is an acronym for the "Protect IP Act." ("IP" stands for "intellectual property.") In short, these bills are efforts to stop copyright infringement committed by foreign web sites, but, in our opinion, they do so in a way that actually infringes free expression while harming the Internet. . The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to advocating for the public interest in the digital realm, has summarized why these bills are simply unacceptable in a world that values an open, secure, and free Internet.

 It is Hollywood and the MPAA that are the biggest backers of this bill among other supporters.  What these two bills will do is essentially neuter many site including this one, and many other podcasts and entertainment sites.  We will essentially be breaking the law by posting a link to another site or embedding a video.  That would effectively be the end of this show right there because one of our mst popular things on the site is the Random Bits of Awesomeness. 

These two bills will cost jobs!  Major sites like yahoo, Facebook, Google, Twitter, eBay will effectively be things of the past.  Contact your congressperson and tell them you oppose these two bills.   Get educated and learn why these bills mean the end of the internet as we know it. Here is a link to learn more about these two bills. Thank you and please help keep the internet the way it is.